$50G grants fund playground rebuilds in Glen Cove

A pair of $50,000 Nassau County grants have helped to rebuild two aging Glen Cove elementary school playgrounds deemed too dangerous for children, with their decaying wood and sharp metal parts.

Gribbin Elementary School last week introduced its new facility in a ribbon-cutting ceremony. Parents, students, staff and officials at the school had raised $12,000 to supplement the $50,000 provided through the county’s community revitalization program, school and county officials said.

Landing Elementary School opened its playground last month, also with fundraising efforts to supplement the $50,000 county grant, officials said.

“The Landing School playground had become obsolete. It was dangerous for kids and the wood was splintering,” Glen Cove school board trustee David Huggins said Wednesday. “The same was true with the Gribbin School.”

Huggins called the playgrounds “interactive” with slides, climbing ropes and other apparatuses.

The old playgrounds had been in place since the 1980s, said Legis. Delia DeRiggi-Whitton (D-Glen Cove).

Securing the county funds was a two-year process begun by former Legis. Diane Yatauro (D-Glen Cove) and completed by DeRiggi-Whitton.

“This kind of money is very important because as legislators you see the need that the district had,” DeRiggi-Whitton said yesterday. “These programs are vital, and they may seem like something that can be put aside as not as necessary, but I find them to be an important line to have.”